On Mar. 16, 2017, the New York Times and its reporter Charlie Savage brought this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

On Mar. 16, 2017, the New York Times and its reporter Charlie Savage brought this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Plaintiffs sought disclosure of agency records by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), a component of DOJ which reviews all Executive Orders for form and legality and reviews legal questions raised by other parts of the executive branch.

Specifically, plaintiffs sought the disclosure of records related to OLC reviews of: 1. All emails, memos, and other documents related to OLC review of proposed Trump administration Executive Orders for form and legality, including during the transition period; and2. All emails, memos, and other documents related to OLC review of other proposed Trump White House matters, including during the transition period, including but not limited to whether the appointment of Jared Kushner to a White House role would violate anti-nepotism laws and whether the president's ongoing business operations would violate the Emoluments Clause.

The complaint alleged that, on Jan. 28, 2017, plaintiffs submitted the above FOIA request to the defendant federal agencies. The complaint further alleged that, to date, plaintiffs had not received a substantive response from the defendant agencies, and that plaintiffs had constructively exhausted all required administrative remedies. Plaintiffs sought a disclosure order of the information above under FOIA and legal fees.

On Mar. 17, the case was assigned to Judge P. Kevin Castel and to Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis.

On Sept. 11, the parties filed a letter with the court noting that the government completed its initial FOIA searches by Aug. 31. On Oct. 3, the parties submitted a status report noting their agreement that the government would make its first FOIA release on Nov. 10. The Jan. 19, 2018 status report, modified by a later order, stated that DOJ would provide an index of produced documents by Mar. 12. A status report filed on May 7, 2018 indicated the government had processed some but not all of the index.

On July 20, 2018, the plaintiffs filed notice of voluntary dismissal. The case is now closed. The documents released by the government are available through this case page, below.